Yumi groaned as she looked over at Ulrich whose face was now bloody and leaning against the steering wheel. Yumi was fine because her air bag deployed but Ulrich's didn't, allowing him to smash the side of his face into the wheel. Slowly and painfully, cautiously keeping the weight off of her broken leg she exited the car and hopped to Ulrich's side.
"Wake up," Yumi said and felt his pulse to make sure he was still alive. After he was confirmed to be alive she opened his door and carefully dragged him out and placed him on the street. She looked around to make sure a crowd wasn't forming, but she could see people viewing them from the windows.
"Shit," Yumi said and searched his pockets for a cell phone and quickly dialed a number.
"It's Yumi," She said and heard her partner on the other line.
"Long story of how I got away, look I'm injured and so is a civilian. You know he has hospital guards on his payroll, and they know what he looks like so we can't drop him off there. They'll find him, they'll make him talk and put a bullet in his head, and then this entire operation is destroyed."
"I know that place, it's not that far from here. Are you sure it's safe?" Yumi asked and then hung up the phone.
"Come on you big mother fucker," Yumi said and tried to wake him up so she wouldn't have to drag him five blocks.
The sound of an ambulance echoed and Yumi suddenly had an idea, though she didn't like it. Yumi reached into the car and grabbed the pistol, placing it in the waist of her pants and under her shirt. Digging through Ulrich's pockets she took his wallet and pocketed it before the ambulance arrived.
Two EMT's jumped out and ran to Ulrich immediately as the driver went to Yumi and inspected her leg. They put Ulrich on a stretcher and placed him in the ambulance as Yumi's leg was placed in a brace.
When one looked away Yumi pulled the gun out and pointed it at the first one. The EMT looked back and jumped back in surprise.
"Whoa!"
"Pain meds for my leg and a blood pack for his transfusion, now," Yumi said as the men frantically grabbed pain meds, "Blood pack."
"What blood type?"
"I don't know," Yumi said and pulled his wallet out and looked at his cards to see if anything said it. Organ donor card said A positive, "A positive."
"What's the nearest intersection?" Yumi asked.
"Ninth and Orchard," The driver said, not aware of the situation in the back.
"Take a right at that intersection," Yumi said.
"No, the hospital is…" the driver said before Yumi popped a warning shot through the windshield, "What the fuck!"
"Take the turn!" Yumi shouted and the driver did as told until he was told to stop. Yumi exited the ambulance with Yumi and the medical supplies before the ambulance drove off.
Yumi dragged Ulrich to a nearby building before a man ran out, looked both ways and helped her. They dragged him to the third floor and into a room that the men double bolted behind them as Yumi placed Ulrich on the bed and began the transfusion.
"What the fuck happened, where's Richard?" Her partner asked and Yumi shook her head.
"He's dead. He caught on we were investigating him and now he's cleaning house to remove anyone who could get him life. We have the evidence now, but without someone on the stand to validate it, it's useless," Yumi said as she took a pain pill and looked at Ulrich.
"Who the fuck is that guy? How the hell did a civilian get involved?" Her partner asked.
"He's an old friend of mine. I couldn't call the cops and tip him off, or call you because he'd just check the call history on the payphone. I called the suicide hotline hoping my name would float around the station and it would let you know I was compromised. Turns out, a friend I haven't talked to in five years was a call taker for the hotline. Hell of a coincidence I know," Yumi explained and he looked at him.
"That doesn't explain why he's in the bed," he said.
"He heard my name and came looking for me. Found me, and saved me as I was being tortured for information. I didn't tell them anything, they don't even know that I'm a cop, they think I'm a CI," Yumi said and the man sighed.
"That's one lucky break I guess. We need to treat that bullet wound though," her partner said and walked over to Ulrich and lifted up his shirt.
"Good thing he's out," The man said and used surgical tweezers to search for the bullet before he slowly pulled it out and placed it in the ash tray. Smearing the wound with peroxide and giving him antibiotics, washing it before wrapping his stomach all the way around and just waiting for him to wake up.
Ulrich slowly opened his eyes and looked around a place he didn't remember falling asleep in and saw two figures sitting on chairs talking. His entire body was numb and he tried to regain normal function of his limps. The blurred woman looked his way and stood up and walked over to him.
"He lives," She said and Ulrich look up, his regaining focus and finally realized it was Yumi.
"Where am I?" Ulrich asked.
"A safe house," Yumi said and looked down at him, "Try not to make any facial expressions, I'm reasonably sure you broke a few bones in your face. No, I'm not kidding," Yumi said.
"Was I shot?" Ulrich asked.
"In the stomach," Yumi said and Ulrich looked at his stomach and saw the bandage.
"What exactly did I get myself into?" Ulrich asked.
"Look kid, the less details you know, the better. So here's the skinny. This is an internal affairs undercover operation, and you've compromised it," he said.
"It was compromised before he got involved," Yumi said.
"Well now it's more compromised because now we have to baby sit," her partner said and stood up and looked down at him.
"Let me guess, because they got a look at me, I can't leave can I?" Ulrich asked and the man nodded.
"No hospital either, we're reasonably sure he has people at the hospital on his payroll. We figured he did when an officer investigating him was murdered in his hospital bed," Yumi said and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Are you two investigating a cop?" Ulrich asked.
"Yes, hence why we're internal affairs dumb ass," The man said and answered a phone call. He talked for only a few seconds before he hung up the phone, "That was our inside man, they found the car you took. Bad news, his blood was all over the driver's seat so it's only a matter of time before they ID him."
"Will they go after anyone I know?" Ulrich asked as he groaned himself to a sitting position.
"Most likely, if you need to make some calls, do it now," Yumi said and tossed Ulrich a phone.
"Where's my phone?" Ulrich asked.
"They'll ID you, so they'll check your recent phone calls to see who you called. If you need a number from your phone that's fine, but after you call, take the battery out," Yumi said and tossed him his phone. Ulrich typed Milly's number into the phone and place his ear to it.
"Hello?" Milly asked.
"Milly, it's me," Ulrich said.
"Ulrich, who's phone are you using?" Milly asked.
"That doesn't matter, you have to trust me though. Someone is probably going to come looking for me, even if they're cops, they're bad news. Go to you parents house, don't tell anyone where you're going," Ulrich said and there was a long pause on the other side of the phone.
"What happened?" Milly asked.
"Milly, you need to trust me, go now," Ulrich said.
"Okay, I'll trust you. I want an explanation later though," Milly said before they hung up and Ulrich tossed the phone back to Yumi then pulled the battery out of his.
"Milly…really?" Yumi asked, confused.
"What?" Ulrich asked.
"From Kadic?" Yumi asked and he nodded, "It's really has been a long time."
Ulrich felt like he had been in that room for a few days after he arrived. He watched the sun rise and fall twice from the windows as he paced around the apartment. It had food in it, mostly microwavable bowls and instant noodles, but food none the less. There was a TV with basic cable so he watched the news looking for anything. Turns out Ulrich was the lead suspect in a murder case.
"College student Ulrich Stern, German nationality is wanted for suspicion of murder of a police officer whose body was found in the trunk of a car that was reported stolen. Ulrich Stern crashed the vehicle into a light pole, and fled the scene," the reported said on the news and Ulrich saw pictures of the car he took off the driver named Peter. The car he clearly remembered not having a body in it because he checked the trunk before he stole it. Two birds one stone was his best guess. They got to dump the body and pin it on him at the same time.
On the third day Yumi came back with her partner, and they both quickly did checks on the doors and windows, making sure they weren't followed. Ulrich asked them about the news and they confirmed they already knew.
"Convenient," Yumi said as she sat down on the couch and took a pain pill for her leg she now had in a makeshift splint made of kitchen table chair legs and torn bed sheets, "He didn't even have to dump the body, and he found a fall guy."
"I would imagine he'd kill me?" Ulrich asked and Yumi nodded, "I could turn myself in."
"What would that accomplish?"
"He needs me dead so I can't talk, I talk before he kills me," Ulrich said and Yumi shook her head.
"You'd get shanked before you got to the interrogation room," Yumi said and rubbed her legs and hissed through her teeth, "You need to understand who we're investigating. It's not some patrol officer and racketeering, it's someone much higher, in bed with someone much worse. The blond guy who took a swing at my leg, his name is Sven Rhein. He's an under boss for Dravin Greitens, he operates the French region of a crime syndicate we haven't even named yet. Even Dravin has a boss.
"Dravin has built a drug network and hires the local police for protection and cleanup. If any of his dealers or smugglers get caught, evidence gets lost or people get buried, but it always ends with them getting a slap on the wrist and released. We've been building a profile on the cop for almost a year, and we're close. Only problem was, he found out how close we were, and who was close. The man you've been framed for killing was the inspector for internal affairs. If he can bury an inspector, let alone internal affairs, he can bury anyone," Yumi explained and looked at her feet and sighed.
"Who is he?" Ulrich asked and Yumi looked up and they held their gaze for ten seconds before she answered.
"Inspector General," Yumi said and Ulrich looked at his feet. The dirty cop was the head of police for the entire city.
"How many dirty cops are there?" Ulrich asked.
"Fifteen that we know of. Potentially all of them under the right circumstances. They create the evidence for a case, and they have a clean cop do the case, not knowing he's a patsy," Yumi's partner answered, making her nod to agree.
"Who's the other CI?" Ulrich asked and Yumi looked at him strangely, "When they were torturing you, they kept asking who the other CI was."
"Someone in Dravin's operation is giving us information. A majority of the case is built around his information. He's brave, he's reliable, but he hasn't called in since the night you found me. He's low on the totem pole, but will never suspect him because they think he's too low to know what he knows. Peter overhears a lot when he drives Dravin around and…" Yumi started before Ulrich interrupted.
"Was the car I took his?" Ulrich asked, and Yumi slowly nodded, wondering how he knew that, "I smashed his cell phone so he couldn't call and tell them I was coming after he told me where you were."
"That wouldn't explain anything, he wouldn't risk using his phone to call us. He uses payphones to call," Yumi's partner said.
"Maybe he's under police heat," Ulrich suggested, "The car was his, police will talk to him. Maybe he's making sure no one in the police is aware of his role as a CI before he risks calling you."
"That is a possibility," Yumi answered, "Then again, you didn't know who he was, so I'll assume you roughed him up a little. Maybe he's worried he's already burned."
The phone on the table began to vibrate and Yumi's partner walked over and grabbed it. He answered it, but didn't say hello or anything normal.
"Lucky's Dry Cleaning," he said and paused for a second, "What do you have cleaned? Alright sir your dry cleaning will be ready tomorrow, you're total is fifteen thirty, have a nice day."
He hung up the phone and looked at Yumi.
"We're meeting Peter tomorrow," he said and placed the phone on the table.
Yumi and her partner were standing on a corner next to a clothing store called "Suit Yourself". The code they used to contact was very simple. The clothing article that was to be cleaned was the meeting place. A suit was "Suit yourself", pants was a convenient store called "The Old Pantry", and a dress was a furniture store called "Dressers and More". The price of the dry cleaning was the time.
It was fifteen twenty, and still no sign of him. He was usually five minutes early so they weren't worried yet. Peter arrived at fifteen twenty seven.
"What the fuck happened?" Peter asked and Yumi's partner started the conversation.
"Look, when she got caught she was at a pay phone right?" He asked and Peter nodded, "She called the suicide hotline and low and behold the guy on the other line was her ex boyfriend who found you."
"You expect me to believe that?" Peter asked and Yumi nodded.
"I knew he worked there. I couldn't call the police, I didn't think he'd be that effective," Yumi said and Peter seemed to relax and believe her.
"Fine, whatever. What now? Everything you guys have been working for is destroyed. You have nothing tying him to anything that isn't hear say," Peter said and Yumi sadly nodded to agree.
"I know. Everything we have is circumstantial. The only thing we can do now, is catch the low hanging fruit and see if anyone turns on him. He might not be in jail, but his creditability with the public will be so tainted he'll have to resign."
"You know he won't. He'll find a way to turn this into a witch hunt, play the victim, and then he'll run for high office and really fuck shit up," Peter said and Yumi's partner looked him dead in the eye.
"Updates?"
"A few. Word is they're shipping product sometime this week. I don't know what time, I've asked a few people and I always get different answers, they're probably trying to give me disinformation to sniff me out," Peter said and Yumi nodded and sighed, "That's not all."
"What else?" Yumi asked.
"You need to get out of that safe house now. Don't go back, I think they interviewed the EMTs who picked you up after you totaled my car. They're narrowing that block down," Peter said and Yumi swore to herself and pulled out her phone and called.
"Don't bother," Yumi's partner said, "I ordered him to never answer that phone."